If I wanted pity, I got it because I'm illegitimate. And when I didn't want it I was mean and nasty.

Mom never quit on me. My only regret is that she didn't live long enough to share some of the money and comforts my work in show business has brought me.

I know the most terrible thing that can happen to a woman. That is the gang-up. Men put you to sleep with their drops and one man after another goes in and takes you.

Though I was excited about the Sojourner Truth play, it was not reassuring to think that my entire future might depend on the success of that one show.

There is a great supply of amateur undertakers in show business.

We miss a lot in life because we don't know when to quit, what to leave out.

When you dominate other people's emotions, the time has to come when you will have to pay, and heavily, for that privilege.